1. Field of Invention
The present application relates to a 2-door or 3-door type vehicle having a reinforcement member against a side impact capable of achieving an improvement in impact strength of the side of the vehicle; and, particularly, to a 2-door or 3-door type vehicle having a reinforcement member against a side impact in which a reinforcement member for resisting an impact due to a side collision is provided in the 2-door or 3-door type vehicle which is not equipped with a rear door and has poor side impact strength.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional passenger vehicle is equipped with four doors so that passengers easily can get on and off. In such a 4-door type vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1, impact beams 15 are installed within a door 14 so that impact energy due to the side collision of the vehicle is not transferred to passengers, thereby reducing injuries to the passengers caused by the side collision.
However, a rear door is not installed in a 2-door type vehicle such as a coupe, or is installed at only one side of a 3-door type vehicle which has an asymmetrical structure. In the 2-door or 3-door type vehicle, there is a need to install a member for resisting impact energy due to a collision with the side of the vehicle which is not equipped with the door.
As shown in FIG. 2, the 2-door or 3-door type vehicle has a side structure of forming the side, which is not equipped with the door, as a center pillar 11, a side sill 12, and a rear floor side member 13, and has a structure of including a connection member 16 which connects the center pillar 11 and a quarter pillar in order to prevent the center pillar 11 from being pushed backward at the time of a front collision of the vehicle. There is a problem, however, in that passengers would be seriously injured during the side collision because the vehicle does not have a member such as an impact beam to prevent the impact energy from being transferred to the pelvis parts of the passengers at the time of the side collision.
In order to measure an injury value at the time of the side collision, a side collision test is performed in which a dummy D is mounted in the vehicle, the side of the vehicle is struck by a heavy weight body B, and an impulse applied to the head and pelvis of the dummy D is measured. In this case, the impact applied to the head of the dummy D may be reduced through a curtain airbag installed in the vehicle, whereas the impact energy due to the side collision is transferred to the dummy D because the vehicle does not have a member to absorb or resist the impact applied to the pelvis of the dummy D. This means that passengers will be practically injured in the 2-door or 3-door type vehicle.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.